Announcing Merdeka Open House 2009's Theme

Dear all Malaysians floggers, bloggers and non-bloggers alike,

I was contemplating whether to organise another virtual open house this year, after successful rounds of Merdeka Open House which started in Year 2006 with the theme Recipe Long Forgotten; 2007's Muhibbah and last year's Mee and My Malaysia. I thought that by not bring it up, I could just let it go hahaha but how wrong I was. After going through the comments and the recent one by Sugar & Spice of Masala Heaven, looks like I would have to organise one since quite a number did not manage to make it last year.

For the past 3 years, I've conducted polls to decide on the themes but this year there is no need for one as I've gone through the past suggestions and decided to pick one from there. With this, I would like to announce the theme for Merdeka Open House 2009 will be My Sweet Malaysia.



Sweet would be rather apt now with so much going on with our political scenes, language issues for our school going children, A(H1N1), haze and the list just go on and on. I supposed it would be great to show case something to sweeten up this 52nd Independence Day (Hari Merdeka Ke-52).

My Sweet Malaysia would need participants to cook up traditional sweets of all kind as long as it tastes sweet be it desserts of your ethnic group; or something sweet your family serves for tea or snack. There will be no restrictions as to whether it has to be halal or not. This time the challenge would be which sweet traditional recipe to pick from!!!! Hahaha yes cos we have so many yummilicious (my boiboi's current fave word!) sweets on the list, very headache but this is so much simpler than attempting Recipe Long Forgotten!

Let me give you some examples to start with cendol; ice-kacang; sago gula melaka; fresh milk curd; onde-onde; pak tong koh; bubur chacha; tee nyah kuih; egg custard; ghee ball; ang koo; and all the various kuih-muih like ketayap, kuih bakar, nine layer kuih, kuih talam and I could go on and on till all my cows come home!

My only request would be if possible, stick to traditional recipe without any shortcuts or replacement of ingredients to make it modern or fusion but it is all right for overseas participants due to limited ingredients. This open house is something for us to cherish our wonderful roots and we hope we could preserve the recipes that our ancestors have hand down.

I will post up the details on what you need to do if you're participating later on but the gist of this open house is to cook up something based on the theme and post it on your blog on the stipulated date. Send me the details and I will round up all the submissions on Merdeka Day itself. Those without a blog could also participate as I could post up your entry on your behalf.

So please let the whole world know of this virtual open house as all Malaysians and also those who are married to Malaysians are welcome to partipate, pssst actually I'm quite flexy, if you're unsure, just drop a comment here or send me a mail ;-)


Technorati Tag: merdeka open house 2009